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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 MAY 2015 37 Sport FORMULA 1 TENNIS Rosberg beats Hamilton to Barcelona pole THE Mercedes driver took his first pole position of the season after shin- ing in qualifying. Rosberg has been well beaten by team-mate and reigning world cham- pion Lewis Hamilton in the opening four races - with the Brit starting on pole in all of them. Hamilton was downbeat after the session, having been knocked off the top spot on the grid for the first time this season. For Rosberg, his last pole came in the final round of last season in Abu Dhabi as he took 11 pole positions over the course of the year. This was his first of 2015 and the German ad- mits it could have come at the perfect location. "It just feels good because it's a great day in the office," he said. "It's not about past races or any- thing. It just feels great to be on pole, on this track it's particularly impor- tant because it's nearly impossible to overtake. "(Qualifying in) China, for example, was also a good one, so it's not the first one. But today, yes, was a positive day and things went to plan." Hamilton holds a 27-point lead at the top of the championship after his blis- tering start to the year but knows, on a track where overtaking opportunities are at a premium, his race could be de- cided as soon as the lights go out. "It's always one of the opportuni- ties," he said when asked about getting the start right. "You have that and some of the pit- stops. It's very, very difficult to over- take I think, as it's shown and proved over the years. "It is not very easy to dive down the outside at the circuit - it is really about getting down the inside off the line. But we have the exact same clutches so naturally we should have the same start. "If I'm fresher tomorrow and have a slightly better reaction it might make a difference." Issues with the balance of the rear end of his car put paid to a pole bid for Hamilton - but he insisted he will not settle for second place tomorrow de- spite his healthy lead. "I don't think so," he replied when asked if he planned a more calculated approach. "I think I'll drive the same as I did last year, it seemed to do me quite well. I generally didn't have the pace today. "Nico did a great job and generally I don't know if I really had the balance where I like it. I did my best with it and I think tomorrow there's still a lot to play for." Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff was full of praise for Rosberg - who has come in for flak for his per- formances relative to Hamilton. "That was a brilliant lap from Nico to take his first pole of the season," he said. "It just goes to show that things turn quickly in Formula One. "There have been lots of people ask- ing questions about whether he could bounce back or had lost his momen- tum but they have to remember that these guys are tough, they're resilient and they're not so much affected by these ups and downs in results as peo- ple think. "Nico stayed focused this weekend, did his job so far and took a great pole position." Sebastian Vettel was again the best of the rest behind the Mercedes pair but the four-time world champion knows he faces a tough battle in get- ting his Ferrari anywhere near first place on Sunday. "It's not a great place to be behind Nico and Lewis," he conceded. "I think it's the maximum we could do today, so I'm happy with qualify- ing. I think the weekend has been a bit rougher compared to the last couple in terms of finding the balance and the feeling with the car: we'll see what we can do tomorrow. "It seems that Mercedes is strug- gling less and the gap seems bigger than usual. Tomorrow we can put them under pressure: we'll see, it's a long race." Valtteri Bottas of Williams took an impressive fourth place whilst Span- iard Carlos Sainz enjoyed a memora- ble first home qualifying session to go fifth for Toro Rosso. His team-mate Max Verstappen was sixth ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen - with Felipe Massa's Williams sandwiched in between the Red Bull duo of Daniil Kvyat and Dan- iel Ricciardo, who were eighth and 10th respectively. McLaren got both of their cars into the second qualifying session for the first time this season, with Fernando Alonso 13th fastest after making an error on his final flying lap and Jenson Button a place further back. Nico Rosberg will start the Spanish Grand Prix on pole Pos. Driver Team Time 1 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1min 24.681secs 2 Lewis Hamilton(Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:24.948 3 Sebastian Vettel(Ger) Ferrari 1:25.458 4 Valtteri Bottas(Fin) Williams 1:25.694 5 Carlos Sainz(Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.136 6 Max Verstappen(Ned) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.249 7 Kimi Raikkonen(Fin) Ferrari 1:26.414 8 Daniil Kvyat(Rus) Red Bull 1:26.629 9 Felipe Massa(Bra) Williams 1:26.757 10 Daniel Ricciardo(Aus) Red Bull 1:26.770 11 Romain Grosjean(Fra) Lotus F1 Team 1:27.375 12 Pastor Maldonado(Ven) Lotus F1 Team 1:27.450 13 Fernando Alonso(Spa) McLaren 1:27.760 14 Jenson Button(Gbr) McLaren 1:27.854 15 Felipe Nasr(Bra) Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.005 16 Marcus Ericsson(Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.112 17 Nico Hulkenberg(Ger) Force India 1:28.365 18 Sergio Perez(Mex) Force India 1:28.442 19 Will Stevens(Gbr) Manor Marussia F1 1:31.200 20 Roberto Merhi(Spa) Manor Marussia F1 1:32.038 Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying Times Nadal into Madrid final after beating Berdych DEFENDING champion Rafa Nadal continued to look more like his old self as he crushed Czech Tomas Ber- dych 7-6(3) 6-1 to reach the Madrid Masters final yesterday. The home favourite, bidding for a third consecutive Madrid title but still searching for his best form, will face either Andy Murray or Kei Nishikori in the final. Chasing a fifth title overall at the claycourt event in the Spanish capi- tal, third seed Nadal edged a tight first set before turning the screw in the second to exact revenge for a straight-sets defeat to the Czech sixth seed in this year's Australian Open quarter-finals. Nadal had won 17 consecutive matches against Berdych before los- ing to the world number seven in Melbourne and restored his domi- nance with a solid display that in- cluded a series of trademark whipped forehand winners. The Mallorcan is the favourite to claim the title after world number one Novak Djokovic decided to miss the event to rest and Roger Federer, who took over from the Serb as top seed, fell to Australian Nick Kyrgios in the second round. After struggles with injury and illness, Nadal is attempting to re- discover his spark on his favoured surface before he makes a bid for a record-extending 10th French Open singles title in Paris starting at the end of the month. He won a 46th career clay title in Buenos Aires in February and is just three shy of the record of 49 held by Guillermo Vilas, but was surpris- ingly beaten at subsequent clay tour- naments in Monte Carlo and Barce- lona. With the sun beating down on cen- tre court in the Magic Box arena, Berdych saved both break points he faced in the opening set but faded badly in the tiebreak. Nadal punished a series of errors from the 2012 runner-up to open up a 5-1 lead in the second set and sealed victory on his first match point when Berdych sent a return sailing out. Briton Murray, the second seed, and fourth-seeded Japanese Nishiko- ri play their semi-final later. Nishikori lost to Nadal in last year's showpiece when he had to withdraw due to injury. Rafael Nadal beat Tomas Berdych on his way to reaching the Madrid Masters fi nal Nico Rosberg will start today's Spanish Grand Prix on pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel